As a care provider, you should have a business continuity plan to help you manage situations that may not happen, but could have a major impact on your business and your ability to provide care if they did.
The CPA has developed guidance to help you to develop your plan, as well as a template plan that you can use to either create or update our existing plans.
Access updated information on escalation processes – including the DHSC letter issued to care providers on 21 December 2020. This sets out steps that care providers can take in the event of, for example, disruption to supplies or travel.
From exceptionally bad weather, a fuel shortage or a flu outbreak, to financial or quality problems, there are many circumstances that can disrupt the services that adult social care providers run.
This guide has been written to help you to develop plans to ensure continuity of care and support, and to ensure that your business can continue, if a problem occurs.
It doesn’t cover everything – but it’s a good starting point. It is primarily about how you might go about maintaining services rather than about how best to resolve specific issues.
As well as making good business sense, your local authority or healthcare commissioner and the Care Quality Commission will also expect you to have a business continuity plan in place.
Business Continuity Management is about “Identifying those parts of your organisation that you can’t afford to lose – such as information, stock, premises, staff – and planning how to maintain these, if an incident occurs.”
What you need to put in place will depend on the size and type of your organisation. A single local service may simply need the kind of plan discussed in this guide. A large national or regional organisation will need a more sophisticated suite of well-developed organisational policies and plans.
This Word template will help you create or refresh your business continuity plan to prepare for situations that, should they arise, could have a major impact on your business and the people who use your services.
It provides an overview of the detail and risk you should consider as part of a robust plan, regardless of the service you provide. It does not cover everything that might be needed by individual businesses, so please use it as the basis for your plan, adding anything specific to your service and reflecting your existing business continuity plans. Please use this document alongside the CPA’s business continuity planning guidance.